


you're the real tough cookie with a long history

by Super_Danvers



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Battle Gays, Elseworlds, Elseworlds Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Elseworlds Sanvers, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22632694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Super_Danvers/pseuds/Super_Danvers
Summary: Over in a new dimension, Agent Maggie Sawyer begins her day...
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers & Maggie Sawyer
Comments: 7
Kudos: 59
Collections: Secret Sanvers | A Sanvers Valentines Day Event





	you're the real tough cookie with a long history

Maggie Sawyer hated her job. Hated everything about it: the building, the training, her colleagues, all of it. It made her feel empty and angry. It was pointless work, and she wished she could change it for anything in the world. Something was keeping her there, she could feel it, something telling her to stay. Someone, perhaps, but she didn’t know who. Still, it dragged her to work every morning.

Pulling on her uniform, which consisted of: a mid-sleeved black shirt, black cargo pants, knee-high laced boots with a heavy utility belt around the waist, a weighted vest with an S insignia over the shirt, and a watch on her left wrist. For a final touch, Maggie tied her hair back into a simply braided ponytail and sighed heavily. She hated work.

It took her twenty minutes to get to work, thirty with traffic. She hated that too. If she’d taken the job and the apartment she’d wanted in National City, Maggie could still be sleeping in fifteen minutes before work. On the bright side, at least she could drive her Triumph for longer than five minutes in Gotham. Cutting the engine of her beloved motorcycle, Maggie had a lonely walk from the parking lot to the training that she passed by humming the tune of Rhiannon under her breath. As she stepped into the elevator a loud voice commanded:

“Hold the door, please.”

Maggie’s wrist shot out, pausing the elevator doors at the last moment. They hissed back open reluctantly to reveal a tall, red-headed woman striding towards Maggie. She wore the same uniform as Maggie, with the S insignia on her vest and black cargo trousers. Her hair was almost black at first glance but glinted red in the light and was tied into a single braid that rested on her left shoulder. The same watch that graced Maggie’s wrist was also bound around the other woman’s. The redhead stepped into the elevator without a word – or a thank you – and waited for the doors to shut. Maggie didn’t say anything either, feeling a little awkward. She knew the other woman’s surname, and her rank, but nothing actually _about_ her. The woman, known as Danvers, always stood to attention and somehow always seemed to have something in her hands: sometimes a clipboard, sometimes a gun, always something.

The elevator doors opened, and Danvers exited without a word, heading straight for her office. Maggie eyes watched her go, and then went in the opposite direction to pass the cells to get to the training room. As she walked, she could hear a voice echoing up the hallway, and it sounded angry:

“Nobody is who they really are, not in this reality, Kara.” It threatened. “The sooner you realise you that, the sooner you’ll settle into your new home here.”

Maggie frowned, hearing the voice as male but she didn’t really recognise it. A second later, what she presumed to be the owner of the voice strode out into the hallway. A tall man with dark hair and dressed in a black and silver Superman suit stormed down the corridor with his back to Maggie. He didn’t notice her as he disappeared around a corner.

Maggie shook it off as nothing but as she passed the room he’d just emerged from; she caught a glimpse of a figure on the floor behind a cell door. Just before the main doors slid shut, the figure looked up and their eyes met Maggie’s. There was a flicker of recognition behind them but they didn’t have time to react as the doors shut. Maggie’s frown deepened, and she continued onward.

She hadn’t recognised the prisoner, but the prisoner had evidently recognised her. A fleeting glimpse had evidently had an impact on them because now, as Maggie walked down the corridor, a loud banging and yelling started coming from the cell. It was muffled from the two doors, but still made the walls shudder. Maggie tried not to think about what kind of superpower that prisoner had.

Thankfully, the training room was empty and the simulator was already turned on for her to use. She dipped quickly into the armoury to gear herself up before clicking out the settings and stepping into the room. It was pitch black, save for a circular light around the base of the launch pad that was in the middle of the room. The room itself was tall, two stories high, in a long rectangular shape about the length of a soccer field. The second floor was empty of floor, bar from a walkway that went all around the edges and was hemmed in with a metallic rail. It made Maggie feel like she was in the spotlight of a watchtower.

She stepped onto the launch pad with a tahtib stick fixed to her back, two long knives – one fitted with a knuckleduster - at her waist and a boot knife at her right leg and a Glock 45 attached to her left. As she stooped to one knee, Maggie timed her breathing to the overhead countdown:

_‘Ten…nine…eight…seven’_

Maggie closed her eyes. Staring at the ground whilst trying to keep her breathing steady made her dizzy. She pulled the knives from her waistband and held them out, their tips just brushing the floor of the launch pad. Maggie flexed her shoulders slightly, adjusting the long stick on her back to settle between her shoulder blades.

_‘Six…five…four…three’_

Maggie heard a very soft, faint, _pssht_ , signifying the door of the observation room that overlooked the simulation room. It always annoyed her that she could hear people coming in and out of that room whilst she was training: she hated being watched. The agent didn’t really care by who, just the knowledge of the having two eyes studying her every move threw her off.

 _‘Two….one…Simulation has begun_.’

“Fuck.” Maggie swore through her teeth. The sound of the door had distracted her.

The training room burst into light as the harsh, blinding task lights were switched on. They hurt Maggie’s eyes as she opened them, but she didn’t have time to worry about that. Her first assailant, a man made of golden pixels, came running at her from the front with a spear above his head. Maggie threw her first knife which struck the man in the chest and he fell apart, dissolved, and then disappeared.

The second, another man, was up on the walkway. He ran from behind until he was level with Maggie’s head, scaling the rail and leaping down to her from above. Maggie, using her spare hand, pulled the Glock from her leg and shot upwards at him. The bullet connected with the target’s head and he exploded into thin air, vanishing from view. Maggie sheathed her knife and put both hands on the gun, readying herself for the next, constantly checking her blind spots over her shoulder and above her.

The third wasn’t human. Maggie recognized it the minute he appeared. Although his body had the usual anatomy of a man, his head was different, bloated almost. Two horns sprouted from his forehead and stretched upwards like an antelope. He charged at her from behind, his head down so that he ran at her like a butting goat.

“Shit.” Maggie swore. The assailant was too close for her to get her knife out again, and she didn’t have a clear shot to shoot him. She had to think, and fast.

Maggie abandoned the Glock, throwing it to the ground and charged at the assailant. At the last moment, just before the horns plunged into her, Maggie used limited momentum to push herself into the air. She stretched her arms out sideways and aerial cartwheeled over him, landing on her feet but stumbling backwards. As Maggie staggered backwards, cursing her lack of momentum, she tripped over her feet and landed on her ass.

The goat man had turned and was charging at her again, like a bull in a bull fight. Maggie stayed on the ground, knowing that if she got up she’d be in the same position as she was before, and pulled the knife back out of its’ sheath and threaded her fingers through the knuckleduster. She sat with one knee up, ready to strike with her boot if she needed to. The goat man suddenly stopped, straightened, and cocked his head as if he’d heard something.

Maggie frowned at the simulation’s blank face. They weren’t meant to stop, only meant to attack with no mercy. She readied the knife up, clenching her fists tightly. “C’mon then!” She snarled.

That seemed to kick the simulation back into gear as it charged again as Maggie. It was about two metres away when Maggie dipped her head and arms, sweeping the goat man’s legs out from underneath him with her calf. He fell to the ground and rolled onto his back, and Maggie was on top of him in seconds. She drove her knife into the side of his head and, like its predecessors, it dissolved into nothing.

Maggie heard a click behind her and whirled around, knife up and ready. Instead of being faced with another gold figure, Maggie’s knife was pressed into the skin of an annoyingly familiar redhead. Danvers didn’t even flinch at the blade being held at her neck, nor did she acknowledge the shocked expression on the other agent’s face.

Instead, the redhead moved as if she were the Flash himself. Her hand came up, fixing Maggie’s wrist in an iron-like grip. Maggie gasped in pain, her hand opening and the knife sliding over her fingers, making a loud clatter to the floor. Danvers yanked the wrist out behind her so that Maggie was wrenched forward to be inches from the redhead’s face, grimacing in pain. The other woman’s grip was definitely worse than any bark or bite. Her face was blank, only a picture of hard cruelty as she drove her other hand into Maggie’s abdomen three times.

Maggie spluttered in pain, the punches feeling like concrete against her stomach. She couldn’t double over on account that Danvers was still holding her wrist up. Instead, Maggie replied with reaching behind her and pulling the tahtib stick from her back, striking Danvers in the side like a whip. She barely reacted, bar from her eye twitching in slight pain. Maggie continued to struggle in the redhead’s grip, writhing her wrist and body as Danvers held her in place.

“Stop struggling.” She suddenly commanded, making Maggie freeze in place. “Think your way out of this.”

Although Danvers didn’t soften her grip on the brunette, she wasn’t making any attacks. She was letting Maggie figure it out, training her. Maggie stopped struggling and started to think properly, studying where everything was.

The gun was on the floor, still on the launchpad a few metres behind them. Her first knife lay discarded a little to her left, and the second was wedged just beneath Maggie’s boot. But she wouldn’t be able to get to any of them if she couldn’t disarm the other woman. Then she noticed the weakness, and smirked. Maggie pulled her head back, and then threw it forward. Her forehead connected with Danvers’ nose, making her yelp in pain, and let go of Maggie’s wrist. The brunette seized the opportunity to use her freed hand to grab Danvers’ braid and yank it roughly backwards. The redhead dropped to her knees, hissing as she tried to pry her hair free.

As Maggie crouched down with her to grab the knife, Danvers suddenly let go of Maggie’s tightening fist and drove another concrete punch to her stomach. She punched the same spot again and again, her other hand still trying to get her hair out of the other woman’s grip. Maggie groaned, biting her lip as she tried to ignore the pain, and returned the punch by jabbing with the tahtib stick. But Danvers kept punching, delivering them over and over and over again as if her fists were made of steel. Finally, Maggie cried out loudly, and abandoned her stick, grabbed the other side of Danvers’ head and slammed it to the ground. Danvers directed her fist to Maggie’s face this time, clipping her jaw roughly.

The brunette arched herself up, holding the redhead down on the ground by her hair and pressing her weight down on top of her body. They stayed like that for a few moments, Danvers writhing every so often to try and get out of Maggie’s grip, but nothing. The knuckle duster knife stayed wedged beneath Maggie’s boot, and the other agent couldn’t reach the stick from where her hands were pinned beneath her.

“Do we stop now?” Maggie asked, pressing her knee into Danvers’ thigh. There was a pause, and then a reluctant nod. Maggie stood, letting go of her, and then soothing her side and jaw. “You’ve got one hell of a punch, you know that?”

_‘Simulation…ended…’_

The redhead brushed herself off, and let her hair out of its mussed braid. It fell in thick waves down to her shoulders, settling just above her breast. Maggie found it captivating.

“Good work…Sawyer, is it?” Danvers asked, not acknowledging her own surrender. She seemed nonchalant really, as if the past ten minutes hadn’t even happened.

“Yeah. Call me Maggie.”

She looked up at that, frowning. “Why?”

Maggie returned the frown. “Because…that’s my name?”

The agent studied her briefly, as if trying to figure out whether she was being sarcastic or not. Then, after a second, she turned and headed towards the door. Maggie’s frown deepened, confused by Danvers’ enigmatic nature.

“Wait!” She called out. When Danvers stopped and turned to look at her, Maggie found herself sputtering for a question. “Um…what’s your name?”

“Agent Danvers.”

“No, I mean, your first name.”

“Oh.” The redhead seemed to soften for a flash, her eyes looking away from Maggie. She pondered it, then met her eyes again. “Alex. It’s Alex.”

“Why are you here? In the training room, I mean?” Maggie felt a little daring asking that, knowing that Alex was easily in her superior rank. But still, something felt like they were being drawn together, splattered together with the same blood.

Alex physically tightened at the question, pursing her lips. “Agents should expect random reviews of their training in the field, so we know who’s slacking and who isn’t.”

Maggie nodded, and backed off, thinking nothing more of it. The two lingered in silence, just regarding each other like awkward teenagers.

“Who’s the prisoner?” Maggie blurted out. “The one in cell twenty-one.”

“That’s none of your business, Sawyer.” Alex bit. “She’s nobody.”

“It’s a she?”

Alex’s frown deepened, and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Have you spoken to her? She’s very chatty, and annoying.”

A small smile twitched at Maggie’s mouth. “I’m sure you two get along then.”

Alex returned the smile that went as quickly as it came. There was another sigh. “She claims that she’s from another dimension, and that we’re sisters.” She admitted, and then sighed yet again, as if she were relieved to say it.

Maggie let out a low whistle. “Damn. Must suck to be you.” She joked, starting to pick up her various discarded weapons.

The redhead watched her, seeming to relax a little at Maggie’s casual nature. “I suppose. I can’t make sense of anything she’s saying, it’s crazy.”

“Can I see her?”

“What?”

“Can I see the prisoner?”

Alex’s brows knitted together. “Why?”

Maggie sheathed her two knives and folded her arms. “She sounds like a pretty interesting character.” Then she added a smirk. “Besides, maybe I can make some sense of what you can’t understand.”

“What’s supposed to mean?”

“She’s an outsider, right? Not from this world, I mean. I can relate to that, kind of.” The brunette explained, then paused briefly as she caught a glimpse of the confused look on Alex’s face. She shrugged. “Family aren’t always the accepting people you expect them to be.”

Alex looked away, staring at her feet. Maggie observed her closely, trying to spy her reaction to that. She didn’t get far because Alex looked up again. “Come on.”

Without further elaboration, the redhead turned on her heel and strode out of the room. Maggie hurried herself after her, not bothering to pick up her stick or her gun, and joined the superior agent in the hallway.

The thuds, crashes and muffled shouting from before had faded and was no silent. Alex entered a thumb print into a pin on the wall and the cell opened with a gush of steam. Alex rolled her eyes as it did so.

“God, I wish it didn’t have such a fuckin’ fanfare.”

Maggie grinned. “They’ll be adding a tune soon.”

The two stepped inside the cell. The actual holding space was at the back, at the top of a black ramp, and was completely glass. Inside it, a figure was stood in the corner.

It was a woman, that was obvious. Younger than Maggie and Alex but older than Maggie’s younger siblings. She had blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, and big baby blue eyes that stared at the two women in fear. She looked tired too, but the fear of this place was keeping her awake.

“Alex!” She cried, pressing her hands up to the glass. “Alex, please let me out.”

Alex took a small contraption off one of the walls, and pointed it at the woman. It was in a circular shape, almost like a tracker. She pressed a button on it, and a loud whining noise emitted from it. The blonde covered her ears and cried out, dropping to her knees. Maggie grimaced, her own ears hurting too.

“Please stop! It hurts!” The prisoner begged, curling up in the foetal position. “Alex, stop it!”

Maggie reacted, knocking the contraption from Alex’s hand. “Stop it, you’re hurting her.”

Alex scowled. “This one deserves it. You’ve heard about her crimes.” She pointed at the blonde. “She’s a danger to…us.”

The youngest woman groaned, finally uncovering her ears and pulling herself up into a sitting position, leaning against the glass. “Please, Alex, you’re my sister. It’s me, Kara. We’re _sisters_.”

“You and I are nothing.” Alex spat. “ _You_ are nothing.”

Maggie stepped forward again, touching Alex’s arm. “Okay, let’s calm this down. Shouting and cursing isn’t getting us anywhere.”

Whilst Alex remained silent and stoic, the blonde seemed to come alive again. “Maggie! Maggie, y-you’re here?” She stood, her hands coming up to the glass again. “You work here?”

“Yeah?”

The baby blues darted from one agent to the other. “And you two are married?”

Alex coughed loudly in shock, and Maggie fought down a laugh. The two exchanged an incredulous look, as if they were daring the other to laugh. Maggie started to think maybe Alex was right, maybe this blonde was crazy. Alex was the first to crack, a laugh spluttering out.

“So, let me get this right. Me, in another universe, according to you, not only wants kids and a _wife_ – but she was married too? To Sawyer?” She snorted. “Yeah, you’re off your rocker.”

“None taken.” Maggie replied, popping an eyebrow. In honesty, she knew it sounded crazy but somehow it hurt a little that Alex laughed it off so easily.

The prisoner looked a little sad too. “Well, no. No, you two never got married.”

“What happened?” Maggie asked.

“She wanted kids. You didn’t.” Kara explained. “It was really sad too. You were crying for weeks. I couldn’t believe it either, you two always seemed perfect together.”

“You knew me? This other dimension Maggie?”

“You weren’t that fond of me. You’re a detective at the National City Police Department, well, you _were_. Nobody really knows where you went after you and Alex broke up.”

“I sound pretty cool.” Alex shot Maggie a glare, but the agent shrugged. “What? I fuckin’ am. Sounds like you were really broken up about me, Danvers.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Please.”

Kara smiled wistfully. “Now do you believe me?”

Maggie shrugged. “I don’t know. Tell me something about me only I know.” She replied, thinking how cheesy that sounded.

“Um…what to- um…you only eat vegan ice cream, not regular. You have a collection of bonsai trees, um, you got kicked out of your home when you were fourteen. You’re from Blue Springs in Nebraska…you don’t hate aliens…that’s all I’ve got.”

Maggie and Alex exchanged another glance, and Maggie shrugged again. “She’s right.” She clapped a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Looks like this might be your interdimensional super sister, Danvers.”

Alex shrugged Maggie’s hand off, shooting her a glare that made her face look like thunder. She stormed out of the cell, and a quiet thud signified a punch of the wall. Kara looked sympathetic and nodded in the direction of the door.

“Go after her.” She urged.

Maggie was a little stunned by this girl. “You’re not really her sister though, not really.”

“On this Earth, she’s the closest thing I have. And you’re the closest thing she has. On this Earth and mine.” Kara responded quietly.

The brunette nodded and ran out of the cell, not bothering to close the door behind you. “Alex! Agent Danvers, wait!”

Luckily, Maggie caught the redhead just as she got into the lift. Throwing her arm forward, Maggie managed to catch the door before it shut. She got in calmly, brushing herself down.

“What did you run for? Are you alright?”

“Leave me alone, Sawyer.” Alex snapped. “Go away or you’re fired.”

Maggie clicked her tongue and raised her eyebrows. “Fire me then. I don’t really care Alex, because I hate this job as much as you hate yourself. I’ve known your name for precisely half an hour and I can read you like an open book. I saw your face earlier, when I said about my family. You knew exactly what I meant by that and I saw the fear in your face – not for me, but for you.”

“You don’t know me.” Alex bit back.

“No, you’re right. I know fuck all about you, and neither do you.”

“So, teach me.”

That shut Maggie up. “What?”

“You heard.” Alex answered, her voice harsh and unhappy. “If you know so much, teach me.”

Her tone dared Maggie, almost teased her. Maggie almost couldn’t read it though. Alex looked furious, like lasers were about shoot from her eyes.

The brunette shook her head, knocking herself from her distraction. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Alex softened at that, as if all her anger melted away. “Dinner? Tonight, at eight?” She asked.

“You got it.”

Alex caught the doors with her foot. “I didn’t need to go anywhere.” She said, slipping past Maggie sheepishly. “I’ll, uh, see you around.”

Alex didn’t bother to get Maggie’s reply, instead hurrying back to Kara’s cell. The blonde stood again the moment she saw her sister, a little smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.

“Alex.” She breathed.

“Listen, if you really are my sister-“ Alex began.

“I am.”

“-then you’ll help me.”

“Anything.”

Alex pressed the buttons at the sides of Kara’s cell, opening the door and entering. She sat on the floor, cross-legged, whilst Kara nervously sat on her bunk. From her utility belt, Alex produced a notepad and a pen, then looked up at Kara.

“Teach me about Maggie Sawyer.”


End file.
